A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
by Kiraiko
Summary: Aeron Shepard is back from the dead and building a crack team to go up against the Reapers, but his latest recruit isn't some one he would consider a prime candidate for saving the galaxy. OC insert, Paragon Shep meets Renegade Shep (sort of ) OC/Garrus. Smut to come ;3
1. Chapter 1

Okay, another OC insert, this time, it's sort of like Paragon Shepard meets what could have been a Renegade Shepard if she only had the same last name. Basically, this Shepard is a Paragon, and the OC has the background of a Renegade Shepard, Earthborn and Ruthless. Feedback and reviews are always wanted and welcome, even if it's just to give me some encouragement!

...

"I have one more dossier for you Shepard," the holographic image of the Illusive Man informed him.

"Another one? I already added Zaeed and Kasumi, I don't think I need another crew member," Aeron frowned.

"Perhaps not... and it isn't even a sure bet, they haven't answered our offer, but you need the best crew possible to go up against the Collectors, it can't hurt to have one more along," He sipped at the glass of what Shepard had started assuming to be scotch that he always had with him. He seemed like a scotch kind of guy.

Aeron sighed, "Alright, send it over." He rolled his neck, and flexed his shoulders, just wanting to go take a hot shower after their last mission, he'd gotten tossed around a bit and his muscles were sore.

"This new one is a but of an... unconventional choice, but trust me, if you can get them on, it'll be worth it," And with that the blue hologram flickered and then disappeared.

Aeron sighed and walked out of the con room towards the elevator, he'd read the dossier later, that shower was a higher priority.

The next day, Aeron stood in the cock pit next to an excited Joker. "Oh man, I can't believe that you're going to try and get Atroxa on the crew," He laughed, "She is so hot."

"You know of her then I take it?" Shepard asked, glancing at Joker as they approached Berkenstein.

"Hell yeah! I have a poster of her over my bed, she's amazing. Actress, singer, DJ, artist, she's a uh... what's the term, a Renaissance Man, well, woman," he shrugged.

"I couldn't care less about all that, we don't need entertainment on the Normandy, if it weren't for her Alliance history I wouldn't even be trying to recruit her," Aeron told his pilot, frowning slightly.

"Atroxa can entertain me any time..." Joker muttered with a laugh.

"And when she's on here, you'll address her by her real name, not her stage name," Aeron corrected him.

"Oh... what's her real name?" He sounded a little... embarrassed, Aeron wondered if he had really thought 'Atroxa' was her real name.

"Roxanne Lachance," He answered.

"That doesn't sound like a real name either..." Joker muttered.

"Well it's the one on her file so that's her name."

Aeron walked off the Normandy wearing his civilian casuals, along with Garrus and, for once, Joker, who were both also wearing civilian casuals. Joker had begged to come along this time, there were no anticipated fights after all, they were going to a concert, and had a private booth for themselves so Joker wouldn't have to worry about getting jostled by the crowd. He'd begged and confessed that he'd always wanted to go to one of Atroxa's concerts, but had never been able to because he was always gallivanting across the universe. Aeron and Garrus walked with Joker limping between them, forming a barrier around the fragile pilot. They made their way from the port through the city towards the amphitheater. They handed over their tickets and made their way up a couple floors and then to the private booth, the three of them sitting down.

"So what kind of music does this woman make?" Garrus asked, eyeing a program that he'd been handed at the entrance.

"Techno mostly, though she can play the violin too," Joker told them. He'd become the unofficial expert on their newest potential recruit. After about ten more minutes the lights finally died down, and the lights on the stage brightened, showing a sleek, silver DJ booth in the center of the stage. The crowd fell silent, and then some one walked onto the stage and everyone exploded into cheers and whistles. Roxanne Lachance was tall for a woman, nearing 5'9", and even from this distance Aeron recognized the powerful movements of a fighter, confident and smooth.

She didn't acknowledge the crowd, merely walked to the DJ booth, her pale skin standing out starkly against her black clothing and the black back drop of the stage. Her face was painted, a dark blue stripe running horizontally across her eyes and a thinner red stripe running vertically from the center of her forehead down to her chin. Her black hair was shaved into a mohawk about a foot tall, the front falling forward like bangs, while the back fell half way down her back at it's longest point, streaks of electric blue and purple were worked in and she had two long pieces of hair growing from just in front of her ears, hanging down just past her shoulders. Her clothes were revealing, but not overly so, torn up black pants cling to her legs and she was wearing a pair of black boots, her top looked to be a piece of black fabric wrapped around her torso over and over, gaps between the wraps showing off her skin but not going above her bust, leaving her shoulders and arms bare. Her arms were covered in intricate tattoos, and she looked to have her back covered with them as well.

Once at the booth, she picked up a pair of head phones and put them around her neck then lifted them onto her ears, she adjusted a microphone and then looked out over the crowd. "Hey," was the only word she spoke, and the crowd went insane again, saying nothing else, she looked down at the controls before her and started turning knobs and flipping switches. For the next hour or so they sat and listened to music made entirely by Atroxa's electronic devices, and though Aeron had never been a huge fan of techno, he had to admit this wasn't half bad. Joker was obviously enjoy himself, and even Garrus was tapping a foot in time with bass lines. The songs alternated from slow and mellow to fast and hard, almost violent, the bass throbbing and making Aeron feel like his entire body was vibrating. Finally she stepped down from the DJ booth and bowed, before taking a microphone from a stage hand. "I've got a treat for all of you tonight," she informed the crowd in a smooth, soft voice. The crowd cheered excitedly, and then went insane as people walked onto the stage, wheeling a drum set into place and carrying guitars and a key board.

"Oh man, she's going to sing!" Joker said, leaning forward, "She doesn't really sing very often to crowds." He told Aeron and Garrus. Sure enough the band struck up, the music was melancholy and haunting, but beautiful, then the woman began to sing. No one in the crowd moved or spoke as Atroxa lifted her face and opened black painted lips, trilling and crooning, her voice was beautiful, but the song she sang was even more melancholy than the music, and when she finished, it left Aeron feeling strange. He was glad it was over, the song seemed to have pulled up every sad memory and feeling from his entire life and replayed them, and yet he felt even more depressed that it was done. "Wow..." Joker whispered, and cleared his throat. Aeron thought he saw his eyes go glassy for a moment, like he was holding back tears.

"That was very unusual..." Garrus said, his intense blue eyes staring at the stage, where the instruments were being taken away. Aeron thought he heard some one in the crowd sobbing. "Turian music is nothing like that..." Garrus said, leaning back in his chair, a contemplative look on his face.

"Well," Aeron said as Atroxa walked off the stage after giving the crowd a farewell, "Let's go see if Ms. Lachance lives up to her reputation." Joker bounced to his feet and hobbled after Shepard, followed by Garrus. Shepard was trying to shake the lingering feeling of depression that the song had laid over him like a blanket. Roxanne certainly was good at conveying sadness with her voice, it made him wonder just what she'd been through to be able to express it so well.

Using the passes that the IM had procured for them, Aeron, Joker, and Garrus found themselves back stage in no time, and then they were at the VIP lounge where there was an after party being held. It wasn't an overly large room, but there were a lot of people. The lights were low, there was some deep throbbing techno pouring from the speakers, and everyone was drinking and talking and flirting. Except the star of the night. Well, she was drinking, but not talking or flirting. Roxanne sat in the back of the room on a couch that could easily hold five people, but she was alone. Three of her body guards stood in a semi circle around her, keeping the crowd from doing more than gawk at her or shout her name in an attempt to get her attention. Roxanne just sipped her drink and stared off into space, a hard to read expression on her face.

Aeron walked towards the body guards, and he heard Joker next to him, "Oh man oh man oh man."

"Calm down Joker, you'll make me look bad if you geek out on her," Aeron muttered and the pilot took a deep breath before releasing it. Garrus walked on his other side, the Turian and the Spectre both working to make sure Joker didn't get jostled. "Hey," Aeron said to one of the body guards.

"Atroxa isn't seeing fans right now," The body guard, a large Krogan, growled at him.

"Good thing I'm not here for an autograph, if you'll let her know that Aeron Shepard is here, I believe she's expecting me," he told the Krogan, who glared at him, and then turned, lumbering over to Roxanne and leaning down to tell her somehting.

Roxanne turned her gaze to study her three guests before looking at her body guard and nodding, standing up. One of her body guards walked ahead of her as they went to the door, cutting a path, the other walked behind her, making sure nobody tried to get too close. The last one came back to Aeron and nodded his head, "Follow me," he followed Roxanne and the other body guards with Aeron on his heels, and then went down the hall and then another hall, passing through several security check points before reaching a door with 'Atroxa' on it, her dressing room. The body guard went in, leaving the door open so that Aeron, Joker, and Garrus could follow. The other two body guards weren't there, and once they were in the room, the one that had escorted them left as well.

"So," Aeron looked over to see Roxanne lounging in a chair, nursing a drink, "Did you enjoy the concert?" She gestured to couches and chairs around her, arranged in a circle. Aeron and Joker sat down, Garrus did not.

"Yes, you put on quite a show," Aeron said neutrally.

Roxanne was indeed a beautiful woman, looking at her, Aeron couldn't deny that, her eyes were a clear, almost crystalline blue, her face was angular and elegant, her lips full, and her body was put together like a predator, muscles and long limbs, but those blue eyes were cold, her mouth was cruel, and her body was made for killing and little else. She made a thoughtful noise, "There, small talk done, don't worry Commander, I hate it too," She sighed and set aside her drink before grabbing a pack of cigarettes and pulling one out, placing it in her lips. She held the pack out, offering the to her guests, surprisingly Garrus took one. Roxanne smirked as he leaned down, letting her light it for him, then lit her own as he went to stand back where he had been.

"I didn't know you smoked," Aeron said, looking up at the Turian.

"Not very often," he shrugged.

Roxanne took a drag on hers and blew the smoke away from her guests, "Why don't you introduce me to your friends, Commander Shepard?"

Aeron glanced at his friends, "This is Jeff Moreau, my pilot."

Joker stuck out his hand immediately, "You can call me Joker, no one calls me Jeff," He gave a goofy grin and Roxanne raised a brow before taking his hand and shaking it. Aeron thought Joker might faint.

"And this is Garrus Vakarian, resident sniper," he motioned to the Turian, who nodded to her. Roxanne returned the nod. Aeron felt like he was back in high school, watching the cool kids communicate in simple, subtle gestures.

"And you all know me, but please, just call me Roxanne," she told them, taking another drag of her cigarette. "Now, on to business. I'm sorry Commander, but I won't be joining your crew on this oh so important mission," She told him simply.

Aeron blinked, a little surprised at her out right rejection. "Well then why didn't you just tell the Illusive Man that so I didn't waste my time coming out here?" His tone was irritated.

Roxanne smirked, and he hated it. "I was still making up my mind," She told him quietly. Well, Aeron was here, and he felt like this would be a total waste if he just left, so he decided to try and change her mind if he could.

"Maybe the Illusive Man didn't make it clear how important this is-"

"Oh, he did. Humans are disappearing, and it looks like the ever enigmatic Collectors are the cause, and it's a strong possibility that the Reapers are involved. Unlike many in the galaxy, I did not believe the Council's quick dismissal of Sovereign's attack on the Citadel being a single and isolated event. You and I both know, Commander, that politics plays too large a roll in military action," She sipped her drink, "They swept you under the rug. I'd almost say they were likely glad you died. I have to admit I admire your dedication. Even after being betrayed by all the people you saved, you're still out here, fighting the good fight. But I'm not you."

"This isn't about just saving those people all over again, it's about saving everyone, including myself, including you," Aeron frowned at her.

"Yes, I realize this, but you're the hero here, not me," She smoked a little more, "You don't want me along anyway."

Aeron let out a frustrated sigh, "Oh? And why is that?"

"I'm sure you saw my military record?" She asked, and he nodded, "Let's compare shall we? You're Alliance born and bred, you grew up in the military, you had those strong morals beaten into you every day of your life, it is your instinct to protect and serve. You almost single-handedly saved Elysium from the Batarians, you're a hero. You'd help all of these doomed fools no matter how many times they turned their back on you." She drained the last of her drink and set it aside before putting out her cigarette, "I, on the other hand..." She smiled sadly, "I don't give a shit. I don't follow orders, I don't play with others, and I don't care who I kill to get what I want. I got a lot of my men killed on Torfan, and I'd do it again. You stopped the Batarians, but I made them back off. I'm not the kind of person you want on a 'save the universe' mission. I'm the kind of person you want when you want some one dead, not when you want to save people."

Aeron frowned deeply at her, not able to wrap his head around her mentality. Surely she wasn't really this selfish? "I only joined the Alliance to get off the cess pool we call Earth, nothing more, nothing less, and I did my time, I served my term, I'm done," She gestured around her, "Look at me, I'm rich, famous, and adored, why in the hell should I go with you and probably get myself killed just to save a bunch of morons who won't even know it?"

Joker was staring at the woman that he'd been practically worshiping only moments before, a sort of shocked look on his face, "You can't really mean that..." He told her.

Roxanne looked at him, cold blue eyes regarding him, "I'm sorry to ruin your image of me, but I do mean it." She stood and walked over to the small refrigerator, glass in hand, pouring herself a bit more to drink. She stood there for a long moment, her back to them, drink in hand, Aeron could tell from her posture that she was lost in thought, then she seemed to snap out of it.

"I've had enough of death, Commander, I've been around it my entire life," She turned and looked at him, leaning against a near by table, "I have yet to find a cause other than my own survival that is worth killing for. I admire you, I really do, for your courage and willingness to sacrifice yourself for the protection of others. It is men like you that keep the universe from collapsing in on itself, but," she sipped her drink, "My days of digging into the trenches to shoot enemies into oblivion are done. Frankly, I don't think you'll be able to stop those baddies, not this time, and if I'm going to die, I would rather die comfortably, rather than in some pointless suicide mission."

"You're wrong," Aeron stood and looked at her, "It's not pointless, and we're not going to lose. I've got the best team in the galaxy, we will succeed." Her glared at her, chin up, shoulders back, the picture of military bravery. "You say your own survival is the only cause you care about? Then join us, and fight with us, because this is the ultimate fight for survival."

Roxanne gave a small laugh and sipped her drink, "A moving speech, Commander, but I'm not changing my mind." She glanced at Garrus, eyes glittering, "You'd do better trying to convince me to come along using your handsome friend here as a bargaining tool, but even that would not persuade me." She looked away from Garrus, who looked a little surprised, and back to Aeron. "I'm sorry to have wasted your time, please inform the Illusive Man that I'm declining his generous off," She motioned towards the door and Joker stood immediately, heading for it.

Aeron looked at her for a long moment, frowning, before he made for the door, Garrus finally nodded to the woman, "Thanks for the smoke," and followed his companions out.

Out in the hall they were escorted back to the more public area of the amphitheater, and Joker finally let out a loud scoff. "Damn, what a bitch," He growled.

Aeron sighed, but said nothing.

"She's been through a lot," Garrus said from the other side of Joker.

The pilot and Shepard both looked at him, "How do you know?" Joker asked.

"I know a person who has had their soul forged into steel when I see them," Garrus shrugged, "Besides, do you really think some one could sing like that and not have felt some pain in their life?" Ever able to sympathize with people it seemed, even their enemies, so Aeron wasn't surprised he was able to sympathize with a selfish bitch. "I'm not saying I agree with her," Garrus clarified, "Or like her."

Joker didn't say anything, merely pursed his lips as he hobbled between his two friends.

"Guess you're gonna take that poster down huh, Joker?" Aeron teased.

Joker let out a sigh, "Nah, she's still hot."

The men laughed.

"Well, she's probably right about not wanting her on the crew anyway," Aeron sighed, "I've read her file, she's not a soldier, she's a killer."

* * *

Aeron had given the crew the night off for shore leave and had joined them in some bar hopping, which resulted in everyone sleeping in a bit the next morning, including the Commander. He knew that his mother would disapprove of him mingling with the crew like that, she was old school, she thought that CO's should remain separate from the crew, maintain an air of authority at all times. Usually, he would agree, but this mission was different. He couldn't ask these people to potentially sacrifice themselves just because he said so, it had to be personal. And he wanted them to be loyal to him, not Cerberus.

"Commander Shepard," Edi's modulated voice came over the speakers, interrupting his sleep.

"What is it Edi?" Aeron mumbled, his head under his pillow, a weird sleeping habit of his.

"There is a Roxanne Lachance asking to board the vessel."

Aeron lifted his head, "What?"

"There is a-"

"I heard you, that was rhetorical," He sighed, sitting up and swinging his legs over the side of the bed so that his feet were on the ground. He ran a hand over his short brown hair and yawned, "Tell her to give me ten minutes." He changed, wearing his Alliance casuals, and brushed his teeth before heading down to the main deck and then out of the dock doors.

There was Roxanne, standing on the dock, a bag over her shoulder and sun glasses over her blue eyes. "Commander, I didn't wake you did I?" The make up from the night before was gone, and she was wearing loose-fitting black pants tucked into combat boots and a dark blue tank top. Her hair was also now all on one side rather than done up in her mohawk.

"Uh, no," He lied, "Miss Lachance, what're you doing here?" Aeron asked, giving her a suspicious look.

"I changed my mind," she told him, her tone and expression hard to read.

"What?" Aeron blinked.

"I changed my mind," she repeated, a little more slowly this time.

"You... but, why? You seemed pretty sure last night," He frowned at her and the woman shrugged.

"I have my reasons."

"No, that's not good enough," Aeron told her and she frowned at him, and he was pretty sure she was glaring behind the sun glasses, "This mission is too important for you to be coming along on some sort of whim or because you're bored playing pop star." He saw the muscles in Roxanne's arms tighten, her hands curling into fists, in the back of his mind Aeron knew that if she came along, they would end up in a fight.

"It's like I said, survival is the only cause I will fight for," She told him, but didn't offer any further explanation.

Aeron sighed and crossed his arms, "If I accept you to the crew you're going to have to follow my orders, and you're going to have to try and be a team player."

"If I could do that for those Alliance bastards I figure I can do it for you," she shrugged.

Aeron rubbed his forehead, trying to decide what to do, and against his better judgment, he finally nodded. "Alright, welcome aboard then, but don't think I won't dump you on the nearest planet if you pull any shit," He warned her.

Roxanne gave him a coy smile, "I'd never think of such a thing."


	2. Chapter 2

Roxanne quickly made herself at home on the ship, and indulged the crew members that were fans with autographs, displaying a far more personable attitude than he'd seen at the concert. Most of the crew seemed a little enamored with her, especially the men, she was lithe and beautiful, as well as rich and famous, there was nothing not to find attractive about her. But they didn't know about her selfish, shallow attitude. Joker seemed to be jaded with his former idol, and barely spoke to her at first. Roxanne could be surprisingly charming, though, and eventually he gave in and started being friendly, it didn't hurt that she flirted with him half the time. It was very strange for Aeron to see this side of her as opposed to the side he knew to be the real her. The cold, selfish killer that would shoot any of her crew members if it meant that she would survive instead. Roxanne was dangerous, and made even more so by the fact that she had most of the crew fooled into thinking she was this caring, energetic person. He could see how she'd been such a successful actress.

Aeron had never actually seen any of her movies, as apparently she'd only hit it big a little after he died, and neither had Garrus apparently. When Joker learned this, he insisted they watch a couple of her movies up in his quarters, Kenneth from engineering and Jacob joined them. The first movie they watched was some sort of time period action piece about Samurai and ninjas. Roxanne played a ninja assassin, and Joker informed them that her skill with a sword displayed in the movie was genuine. Aeron had to admit he was impressed, if she really did do all the fighting and stunts in the movie (one of the reasons, apparently, that she was so popular), then she was good. She was agile, fast, and fearless. The next was a movie with a more modern setting, with Roxanne playing as a supporting character rather than the star. She was drug runner on Earth, an antagonist this time, that died a little over half way through the film.

"Well," Aeron stretched, feeling a little cooped up from sitting on his couch for a little over four hours, "I'll admit, she's good actress."

"She is," Garrus nodded, "Just look at her performance with the crew."

"Come on guys, how do you know she's not being genuine?" He asked, but Aeron frowned.

"She's a killer Joker, she's just good at pretending to be other things," He warned the pilot.

Joker sighed and looked away, "Yeah... I know, just keep hoping that maybe she'll warm up to the crew for real."

…...

Roxanne did like the crew just fine, but she hadn't disliked her men on Torfan either. It hadn't been anything personal after all, just business. She hadn't hated any of them or wished death upon them, but she'd done what she'd had to do to get the job done. Just like always. She wasn't a hero like Shepard, she wasn't going to go out of her way to save people who didn't matter, she was going to succeed and survive at all costs.

Currently she was in the mess hall in the middle of an arm wrestling match with Jack. The two of the had become friends, in a way. As much of friends as two women like Jack and Roxanne could be. They were both killers, and they were both more concerned with their own survival than anyone else. They'd both been through a lot of shit too, though Jack was more prone to talking about her life than Roxanne, she kept quiet about that. They even looked a little alike, though Roxanne had fewer tattoos and more hair.

"You're going down Roxy," Jack growled, she refused to call her by her full name.

Roxanne smirked at her, "Like hell." Jack had more obvious muscle tone than Roxanne, who was stream-line like a cat, but that didn't necessarily make her stronger. Roxanne proved this by suddenly slamming Jack's fist onto the table and jumping up out of her seat, arms raised, with a triumphant shout.

"Ha! Eat it baldy!" She laughed.

"Yeah yeah, fuck you bitch," Jack muttered, but was smirking despite herself. The crew laughed and cheered a bit and collected on bets they'd made.

"Come on, I'm starving," Roxanne said, nodding towards the pathetic excuse for a kitchen. She fixed herself a sandwich and tore a bite off with her teeth, then sighed mournfully at it.

"What's wrong princess? Missing your five star chef?" Jack sneered.

"Hell yeah I am," Roxanne laughed. She liked Jack, they got one anothers harsh personalities (though Roxanne was much better at smoothing herself out for people who didn't get it), she didn't have to baby the girl, and she knew that Jack understood how it worked, that things were all fun and games here, but out in the field, it was different, emotional attachment did not exist. Jack understood, it was kill or be killed.

"So, what about all your adoring fans?" Jack asked with a smirk.

"I'm letting my PR team handle the fall out," Roxanne smiled wickedly, "I just told them I had some ass kicking to do and gave them a list of things they weren't allowed to mention. I think they're saying I had some sort of family emergency or something." Jack and Roxanne both laughed, because they both got how ridiculous that was. Neither of them had family.

"Excuse me," came a soft voice from beside her and Roxanne jumped, seeing the Drell assassin, Thane, standing patiently beside her.

"Jesus Thane," Roxanne let out a breath, moving out of the way, "I'm going to put a bell on you or something I swear." She laughed, so did Jack.

Thane just smiled as he fixed himself some tea. "Forgive me, it isn't my intention to startle anyone," he answered in that ever calm voice.

Roxanne didn't know what to think of the Drell, he seemed so courteous, but she knew he was a killer. She didn't like people who could kill her, and she knew he probably could.

Roxanne and Jack drifted over to a table, sitting down and making jabs at one another around mouths full of food. "So," Roxanne swallowed her food, "Have you actually seen these Collectors?" she asked.

"No, not personally," Jack told her, "But I saw the footage of when Shepard and his crew went down to Horizon when they attacked the colony. They're fucking creepy."

Roxanne rose a brow, "So, then they're real?"

"Well yeah, I mean what, you joined up without actually believing the Commander? I mean I didn't believe him at first either but I didn't have much of a fucking choice," Jack asked, taking another bite of her sandwich.

"I didn't know what to believe," Roxanne said honestly, one of the few honest things she'd said the entire time she'd been on the ship.

Jack had finally retreated back down to her little basement room to read over more Cerberus files over her time in Pragia. Roxanne envied and pitied the girl at the same time. She'd been through a lot, and it had really fucked her up, but at least Jack could find some sort of closure she could end it and move on with her life, Roxanne had screwed herself over. She was never going to truly escape her past, it would always be there, looming over her, even now. Especially now. She sighed and glanced towards the battery room, smirking to herself and standing. She dumped her plate in the sink and sauntered over, deciding to pay a visit to that hunk of Turian that acted as Shepard's shadow. The doors hissed open and she walked in, leaning against the railing and eying Garrus for a moment as he stood with his back to her, tapping away at a terminal.

"Hey Garrus," She said, walking over, "What're you up to?"

The Turian glanced at her, blue eyes regarding her for a moment before looking back to the console, "Just some calibrations."

"Fascinating," She said sarcastically, peering curiously at the screens and schematics that all looked like jibberish to her. "This all you do all day when you're not out making head shots with Shepard?" She asked, not thrown off by his lack of reaction.

"Pretty much," He answered, glancing at her, "There something I can do for you?"

Roxanne smirked, there were a lot of things she'd like to say in response to that, but she could tell he wouldn't be responsive to that approach. "Well, I was wondering if it's true, what I heard about you," She said. He paused, and looked at her, waiting for her to continue. "Well, that you're Archangel," she shrugged. She recognized the Turian's expression shift into a smirk. It didn't matter what species they were, all males liked to talk about their exploits.

"What did you want to know?" He asked, backing up a bit and leaning against a rail.

"I guess I'm mostly curious as to why," She admitted, "I mean, you were a cop before Shepard recruited you right? Why not just go back to that? You Turians like order and structure don't you?"

Garrus sighed softly, "Well, I'm not a very good Turian. My father is the one who pushed me into becoming a C-Sec Officer, it's not really what I wanted, and after running around with a Spectre, it's kind of hard to go back to that beat you know?"

Roxanne nodded slightly, "Yeah, I can see how that'd be difficult."

"After Shepard died, it just felt kind of pointless, I even dropped out of Specter training, the Council was covering everything up, 'Nothing to see here folks' and it just disgusted me, I didn't want to be a part of that."

"So you went rogue," Roxanne prompted, it was more of a statement than a question.

Garrus shrugged his broad shoulders, "Yeah, that's one way to put it. I went to the most crime-ridden cess pool I could think of, and at first I worked alone, but pretty soon other people started taking notice. I wasn't the only one who was sick of the corruption and the apathy," His voice was strong, passionate, Roxanne could see a hundred emotions washing over his face.

"Have you ever heard of Batman?" Roxanne asked with a smile.

Garrus blinked at her, confused, "Uh, no, can't say that I have..."

"He's a super hero on Earth, sort of a fictional legend, started out with comic books then had shows and movies and stuff, I think you'd like him," she laughed softly.

"Oh? Well, I'll add to my list of things to look into," He told her, and was surprised that he meant it.

"Cool, I love the old movies, let me know if you watch them," she straightened, starting to walk out of the battery.

"Hey," Garrus straightened as well and moved towards her. Roxanne paused and looked at him. "I don't get you," Garrus frowned.

Roxanne laughed, "Garrus, no man ever has, and probably never will."

…...

Garrus' mandibles clicked in irritation as he watched Roxanne leave. He really didn't understand her. She'd seemed so callous that night in her dressing room, and sure of her lack of interest in the mission, then the next day she changes her mind, joins the crew, and buddies up with everyone. He didn't know what her angle was, but he didn't like it. He wished Shepard hadn't let her join the crew, he could only feel like Roxanne Lachance meant trouble. It wasn't his decision though, and he went back to his console, restarting the calibrations that she had interrupted.

The next day, Shepard came to get him for a new mission. The Illusive Man had informed him of a disabled Collector ship, intercepting a report from a Turian patrol that managed to damage the vessel. "That doesn't sound right..." Garrus muttered, Aeron frowned.

"Yeah, I know, but you can't deny that's too big of an opportunity to pass up," He crossed his arms and set his jaw, "We know almost nothing about the Collectors except that they use the Omega 4 Relay, which no ship has ever returned from. If we can get some information on how to go through the Relay without dying, then it's worth the risk. Otherwise this mission is pretty pointless." Garrus couldn't argue with that, so he geared up and met Aeron down in the cargo bay. He looked around, expecting to see Tali, whom Garrus knew Aeron was a little sweet on.

"Where's Tali?" He asked Aeron, who was checking to make sure his supply of medigel was full.

"She's not coming," He answered. Garrus waited a moment for him to say who was going with them, but he didn't.

"Okay, so whose going?"

"Roxanne," Aeron told him simply.

Garrus stared at him, his blue eyes a bit wide. "You're kidding right? You can't really trust her enough to bring her on a mission this important," Garrus scoffed.

"I don't, but she doesn't believe me, or any body else, about the Collectors and the threat they pose," he explained, "Maybe by bringing her on this mission she'll realize what we're up against and really commit."

Garrus let out a huff of a breath through his nose. "I don't like this..."

"I know, but Roxanne Lachance is a good fighter, we could use some one like her on our side," Aeron sighed, putting his rifle into place on his armor.

"Yeah... I guess, just do me a favor and don't go depending on her to pull your ass out of the fire."

…...

"Miss Lachance," Edi's modulated voice came over the speakers.

"I told you Edi, just call me Roxanne," She said, having been in the middle of a nap, opening one eye to peer at the ceiling, since there was no face to look at when talking to the ship's AI, "What is it?"

"Commander Shepard is asking for your presence in the cargo bay, he said to gear up."

Roxanne smirked. Finally, some action. She got up, pulled on her armor, and did the longer back of her hair in a braid. With her helmet under her arm she headed for the elevator, strapping her pistol to her leg, her sword on her back. People could laugh at her for her sword, but it came in handy considering it was monomolecular steel, and with the press of a button it was electrically charged, able to electrocute anyone she stabbed. She got down to the cargo bay, where Shepard and Garrus were waiting for her.

"Morning boys," Roxanne smiled. She was itching for the chance to shoot something. She hadn't been in a good fight since she left the Alliance. Her life had been pretty calm since then, stressful maybe, but no fire fights, no brawls, no near death experiences, she kind of missed it in a weird way. Garrus just nodded to her, but Aeron walked to meet her, "What's on the menu, Commander?"

Aeron glanced over his shoulder at Garrus, who didn't seem to be paying attention, but Roxanne knew he was. Those damn Turians could hear everything. "The Illusive Man is sending us to investigate a vessel believed to be a disabled Collector ship," Shepard told her.

Roxanne rose her brows, and tried not to smile, "Is that so?"

"Yes," Shepard told her flatly.

Roxanne shrugged, "Alright, sounds exciting. Let's go."

She started to move past Shepard towards the shuttle but he grabbed her arm. "I'm giving you this chance to prove yourself, Lachance, don't screw it up. Follow orders, and try not to get anyone killed," He told her, his voice low and serious, before he let her go and loaded up into the shuttle.

Roxanne frowned after him for a moment. She didn't like being told what to do, but she'd just have to suck it up. She didn't have a choice in the matter. So she followed Garrus onto the shuttle, sitting across from the Turian and next to Shepard.


	3. Chapter 3

The shuttle landed inside an open corridor in the massive ship and Roxanne tucked her braid into her armor and put on her helmet, the three of them unloading and finding themselves in one of the weirdest looking ships Roxanne had ever seen. "I love what they've done with the place," Garrus muttered.

Roxanne huffed a distracted laugh, gazing up at the strange ceiling, it looked organic, like the inside of some giant beast. "I feel like I'm in an H. R. Giger painting..." She murmured, pretty sure neither of her companions would understand. Their silence confirmed it.

"This way," Shepard told them quietly after some instructions from EDI, rifle out and ready, moving down the corridor. Garrus and Roxanne followed, Roxanne with her pistol out. She felt a slight surge of excitement. She _had_ missed this. The adrenaline, the danger, the excitement.

"Shepard," EDI's voice came over their comms again, "I have compared this ship's EM signature to known Collector profiles. This is the same vessel you encountered on Horizon."

"Maybe the defense towers weakened it enough for the Turians to take out," Shepard reasoned.

Roxanne and Garrus shared a glance, well, she was glad she wasn't the only one who was skeptical here. This ship was massive, it had to be powerful, and while Turians were no joke, she didn't know how a patrol could take this thing out.

"There could be colonists on the ship," Garrus said instead, "Hopefully they're still alive."

Roxanne secretly hoped they weren't, she'd never much cared for rescue missions. And she didn't feel like like dealing with a bunch of panic-stricken colonists. They continued down the corridor, pausing at some pods.

"These are just like the containers from Horizon," Shepard said, leaning over to look into the nearest one.

"Yeah, except these are empty," Garrus added.

Roxanne approached one and knelt down beside it, peering into it and running her hands along the sides. "It looks like a bug cocoon..." She murmured. It was definitely up there on her weird shit list. "You said they put the colonists in these things?" She asked, standing.

Shepard nodded, "Yeah, it seemed like they were in some sort of stasis and the Collectors were putting them in this and taking them onto the ship."

Roxanne frowned behind her helmet, "God this is unreal." She looked around her, at the fleshy walls, the hive-patterned ceiling, the empty pods. She felt like she was on the set of a sci fi movie or something.

"No, it's real alright," Shepard told her before continuing on.

Roxanne sighed, knowing he brought her here to prove that he wasn't lying or delusional or crazy. She guessed that in the face of this kind of evidence, she had to believe him.

Especially when the next bit of proof was a pile of dead bodies, mutilated beyond recognition, she could only tell they were human by the hair and the shape of the legs. "Mon Dieu..." Roxanne muttered, lapsing back into her broken French in her moment of horror. She'd seen dead bodies but this... this was something else. Shepard squatted down near the bodies, examining them.

"They must have been used for testing," Garrus said, "Guess these weren't up to snuff."

Shepard stood, and stared down at the bodies for a long moment.

"Shepard... you did everything you could," Garrus said quietly, reading his friend like he was an open book.

"Let's go," was the only thing the Commander said in response, and walked away. Roxanne started to follow, glancing over her shoulder at the twisted remains one last time, then trotted after her companions to catch up.

Further down they found what looked to be a sort of terminal hub mixed with a lab, on one of the strange looking things that she could only assume was a operating table of sorts was a dead body. But it wasn't human. Roxanne edged closer, eying the thing suspiciously, not trusting that it was ded, her pistol raised. It was smaller than she'd expected, but with a large, flat head, and many eyes like an insect. "Is this a Collector?" She asked quietly.

"Yes," Garrus stepped up next to her, "But why is it dead like this? Were they experimenting on one of their own?" Roxanne just stared at the creature while Shepard made some scans with his omni tool, sending data to EDI.

"Data received, analyzing," EDI confirmed. There was a moment of silence, where Roxanne finally moved away from the dead Collector, looking around them, trying to wrap her head around all of this. The Collectors were real, and they were stealing colonists for some sort of weird experiments. But as horrible and horrifying as it all was, Roxanne felt little. She didn't pity the colonists, pity was a foreign emotion to her for the most part, it had to be really close to home for it to register. Like with Jack. Her only thoughts were what the experiments could be, and what they could mean pertaining to her future, as in if it would mean a premature death. She had a feeling it did, this didn't look pretty at all. Nothing good could come of any of this.

"The Collectors were running base line genetics tests, comparing their DNA to that of humans," EDI informed them.

"What did they find? Anything useful?" Shepard asked, stepping away from the body, looking down the corridor they would be continuing down. Garrus was looking the other way, so Roxanne, as subtly as she could, scanned the dead body with her omni tool. She moved away when she was done, listening to EDI's answer.

"These are only preliminary results, but they reveal something remarkable," for an AI, she almost sounded shocked, "A quad-strand genetic structure identical to samples collected from ancient ruins. Only one race is known to have this structure. The Protheans." All three of the ground team looked at one another, as if asking each other if they had really just heard that.

"My god..." Shepard turned to stare at the dead body, "The Protheans didn't vanish..." He walked over to it, staring in disbelief.

"Now they're just puppets for the Reapers," Garrus finished, shaking his head.

Roxanne stared at the dead body as well. Was that what the Reapers were after? Was that what the Collectors were doing? Were humans to be the next race enslaved by these monstrous creatures? She let out a breath, not liking this at all.

"These are no longer Protheans," EDI informed them. Roxanne blinked, wondering what she meant.

"But you just said..." Roxanne started to say, but EDI interrupted her.

"This sample shows signs of extensive genetic rewrite."

"Genetic rewrite?" Roxanne frowned. Who did she look like? Mordin?

"The Reapers have re-purposed them to suit their needs." EDI explained without being asked.

"You mean they genetically altered them to turn them into these... things?" Roxanne asked with disgust.

"Yes."

"The Reapers didn't wipe out the Protheans... they enslaved them and defiled them until they were turned into these monsters," Shepard muttered.

Roxanne swallowed nervously.

"It's a horrible fate, no species should have to suffer through that," Garrus spoke up, "But they're with the Reapers now."

"Agreed," Shepard nodded curtly, "And we have to stop them."

Roxanne frowned to herself, looking at the dead Collector, and glanced at the Commander. She was trying to process everything she'd just heard. It was... incrEDIble. If some one had just told her all this, she'd laugh and tell them to pitch it to some producer for a movie. But this wasn't a movie, this was real. She'd known when Sovereign attacked that there was more to it than the Council or the Alliance was willing to admit, but she hadn't thought it was this big. She knew how things worked, she couldn't really recall how many times the Alliance had used her ruthless nature to their advantage and then politely asked her to never speak of it again. They were about as honest as a pack of Vorcha.

"Come on, we should get moving and get what we came for before the Collectors come to salvage this ship," Shepard said before continuing down the hallway.

They passed more pods and Roxanne had the growing feeling that none of this was right. Something was wrong. "Garrus," She whispered to the Turian, knowing he'd be able to hear her.

"I know," He answered, and she frowned, "But we can't turn back now."

She exhaled a sigh, and went back to scanning their surroundings. It felt strange to on wing again, rather than point. She hadn't had to follow some one else's lead on a field mission in a long time.

"Look," Garrus stopped and turned his head upward. Roxanne and Shepard stopped as well, and looked up, "More of those pods."

The ceiling was lined with them. "There are so many..." Roxanne murmured.

"Yeah, too many," Shepard grumbled.

"Do you think the colonists are in them?" Garrus asked.

"I detect no signs of life in the pods, Shepard," EDI informed them.

"Well... if they're in there it's too late to help them now," Shepard sighed and kept moving, up ramps and through hall ways.

"God this place is huge," Roxanne groaned. She felt like she'd been walking forever. "And where the hell is everyone? Did they just abandon the ship when the Turians disabled it?" She asked.

"I don't know," Shepard didn't look at her, she could tell he was trying to hide the fact that he was just as uncomfortable with all of this, but she could tell. They walked and walked, Roxanne beginning to grow more and more irritable, partially because she was bored, and partially because the further into the ship they went with no sign of life, the more uneasy she became.

Shepard stopped to examine some strange bit of technology, scanning it for information, and Roxanne walked over to Garrus. "None of this feels right," She growled.

"I know," Garrus answered.

"Well if you know, and I know, and Shepard seems to know, why the hell are we here?" She asked him irritably.

Garrus sighed, "Because Shepard is in charge, remember? And he decided to check it out."

"No, the Illusive Man told him to check it out. And I don't trust that bastard either, no matter how much he pays me," she muttered.

"Shepard accepted you into this crew under the condition that you follow orders," Garrus reminded her.

"Yeah well, I don't follow orders that'll get me killed," She growled.

Garrus moved closer to her, quickly, aggressively, "You'll follow his orders or I'll shoot you," The Turian snarled at her.

Roxanne blinked, then smiled, "Yes, sir." She could see a bit of surprise pass through Garrus' posture, then he moved away from her, and didn't say anything else. Roxanne smirked. Despite his claim at being a bad Turian, he was still a Turian none the less, and it seemed that Shepard had earned his loyalty, and the loyalty of a Turian was hard to shake.

They went on their way once Shepard was done, more walking, wonderful. Roxanne was beginning to lose the edge of adrenaline from nerves and was just getting a little bored now. Thankfully, EDI had another tid bit of information to get them all something to think about. "Commander, you gotta hear this," Joker's voice came over their comms, "On a hunch, I had EDI run an analysand on the ship-"

"I compared the EM profiles of this ship with data recovered from the original Normandy two years ago," she paused, "They are an exact match."

The team paused, Shepard looked around the strange organic ship as if really seeing it for the first time, "The same ship dogging me for two years?" He muttered, "That can't be coincidence."

"Looks like you've got some fans," Roxanne smirked darkly.

"Do your fans usually try to kill you?" Shepard asked, and she couldn't tell if he was trying to insult her or if he was joking.

She decided to assume it was a joke, because she didn't feel insulted, and the best way to piss off some one who was trying to piss you off is to be happy, or at least act happy. "Not most of them, thankfully," she laughed, "I get some crazies sometimes yeah, but so far none of them have made good on their promises to uh... how did the one put it to 'deliver me from this painful existence'."

"'Painful existence'?" Garrus repeated.

Roxanne shrugged, "If being rich and having my own personal chef willing to cook me whatever I want whenever I want is painful, then I guess I'm a masochist." Shepard and Garrus laughed a bit despite their surroundings and despite how they felt about the selfish pop star that was tagging along with them.

"Alright, come on," Shepard said, sobering up. Garrus and Roxanne followed, Roxanne wondering what it was like for Shepard to be on the ship that had killed him two years ago. She couldn't really imagine it.

They trudged their way up one final, steep ramp, and then found themselves in one of the biggest rooms that Roxanne had ever seen. Having performed in many amphitheaters, she knew that structures could be large, but this... this was mind boggling. She let out a whistle as the three of them stared around, their necks craning so that they could look up at the ceiling. "They could take every human in the Terminus Systems and still not fill all those pods," Garrus murmured. Indeed, when Roxanne looked more closely, she realized that the hive-like pattern that seemed to cover most of the room was actually pods. Hundred of thousands, no, millions upon millions of pods.

"They're going to target Earth," Shepard added quietly, staring up at them. Roxanne blinked, looking at the Commander, then looked around at all the pods.

"Earth?" She whispered.

"We have to stop them," Shepard added resolutely, turning to look at Roxanne, as if challenging her. She didn't say anything, merely gave him a blank, unyielding stare. It was mind boggling indeed, the number of pods, and that Earth and the human race were the target of these creatures, but if he was expecting her to feel some form of compassion or urgency, he was sadly mistaken. Roxanne didn't like people. And the human race never failed disgust and disappoint her, if she were a member of another race, she would feel completely unconcerned, in fact she'd probably think the galaxy was better off for it. As it was though, she was a human, which meant she was also a target.

Shepard turned away from her, and continued along a walkway that was built into the side of the massive structure, Roxanne and Garrus following. Roxanne couldn't stop staring at all the pods, she'd never seen so many of one thing in her life. "It all sinking in?" Garrus asked from beside her.

"Oh yeah, it's starting to..." Roxanne muttered.

They finally came to a platform with what looked like some sort of console on it. "Finally," Roxanne muttered, standing beside Shepard as he started tacking away at the console.

"EDI, I'm setting up a bridge between you and the Collector ship," He told her, "See if you can get anything useful from the databanks."

"So... does anyone else feel like something really bad is about to happen?" Roxanne muttered, turning in a slow circle, her pistol held ready. She knew she wasn't from how Garrus was gripping his rifle, she thought she could even hear him growling softly.

"Data mine in progress, Shepard," EDI told them, and then there was a moment of silence.

"I don't like this..." Roxanne added.

"I get the picture, Lachance," Shepard snapped at her.

Roxanne glared at him, "Well excuse me, I just don't like the fact that we've made it this far into an enemy ship with no resistance, the vessel is disabled, not obliterated. Where the fuck are all of the Collectors?" She snapped right back. Shepard rounded, prepared to argue with her, but the console suddenly... exploded, for lack of a better word, a bright flash of light causing all three of them to put up a hand to shield their eyes out of reflex. "What in the _hell _ was that?" Roxanne snarled.

Then things around them began to move, mechanisms sliding into place. Then it all stopped. Shepard stared around for a moment, "Everyone's alright Joker. What just happened?"

Roxanne felt the urge to do... _something. _Something really bad was about to happen, she could feel it, her old instincts were still sharp, they'd kept her alive countless times, and right now they were telling her to run. "Look, guys, I think we should get going," Roxanne offered, trying very hard not to sound like she was ordering or demanding them to listen to her. Shepard held up a hand for her to be quiet. Roxanne gritted her teeth and shifted her weight from foot to foot, not liking this at all.

"Calm down," Garrus said from beside her.

"No, you need to start worrying!" Roxanne hissed at him under her breath, "Something is very wrong, something is about to happen, and I don't feel like dying on this freaky ass ship."

"Major power surge," Joker told them, "Everything went dark, but we're back up now." He didn't sound exactly confident though.

"I managed to divert the majority of the overload to non critical systems," EDI added. Roxanne thought she heard something move, and turned quickly, pistol raised, in the direction, Garrus had heard it too, peering intently.

"Shit..." Roxanne muttered, feeling herself begin to sweat under her armor.

"Shepard," EDI's tone held a warning, "It was not a malfunction, that was a trap."

Suddenly the platform under them lurched, and Roxanne had to grab a nearby console to keep herself from being knocked down. The platform was lifting in the air, "Shit!" Roxanne repeated, "C'est très mauvais!" She looked over the edge of the platform tentatively, and immediately withdrew, her heart pounding. "So, did I ever tell you guys I really don't like heights?" she shouted, gripping the console for dear life, her blue eyes wide.


	4. Chapter 4

"We need a little help here EDI!" Shepard shouted, the platform still rising steadily through the air. Roxanne was still gripping the console, panting and feeling sweat run down her neck. "Hey," Garrus said from next to her, "You alright?" He actually sounded concerned. Roxanne glanced at him, "No, I just said I don't like heights didn't I?" She snapped at him, wondering if he was just deaf or stupid. "Calm down, we're fine," Garrus told her. Roxanne didn't answer him, just gritted her teeth and tried to get a hold of herself. Yeah, they were fine. They were in an enemy ship, flying through the air to god knows where, and EDI just informed them it was some sort of a trap. But they were fine, just fine.

"I am having trouble maintaining a connection, there is some one else in the system," EDI informed them. Roxanne shut her eyes and clung to the console, memories darting across her mind. Shepard and Garrus were swaying with the rotation of the platform, also struggling to keep their footing. Suddenly the platform slammed to a halt and Shepard and Garrus went tumbling, even Roxanne went flying, landing on top of the Turian. "Merde!" She snarled, rolling off of him quickly, looking around, and getting to her feet. Garrus stood uneasily as well, shaking his head. "You alright?" Roxanne asked him. The Turian nodded, "Yeah, just... dizzy." Shepard was on his feet and looking around, "We've got company." Roxanne and Garrus looked up to see another platform flying towards them with what looked like Collectors on it.

"Connection reestablished," EDI chimed, "I need to finish the download before I can override any systems." "Better get it done fast, EDI," Shepard told her as he took cover behind one of the consoles, Roxanne and Garrus doing the same. "At least we're not flying around anymore," She muttered, wondering if it was strange that she'd rather be fighting than up in the air. The incoming platform stopped with a loud thud and the fire fight began. The three of them stayed behind cover, shooting the Collectors as they came at them, wave after wave as more and more platforms docked. Every time they cleared a platform they moved forward. They fell into a good groove, Shepard and Garrus handled Collectors that were further away, while Roxanne took down any that got past them. She'd missed this, the adrenaline, the thrill. She was a killer, and this was her element. The only thing that gave them trouble were the damn Scions.

"41% completed," EDI informed them. Roxanne hated how calm she sounded, she didn't care if she was an AI, couldn't she simulate being worried? "Hurry it up EDI!" Shepard shouted as he ducked behind cover. Roxanne ducked as well as a pulse stream of blue plasma went over head. "I _hate_ these things!" She snarled as Garrus and Shepard popped out of cover to shoot at it. "That's it!" Roxanne snapped, jumping out of cover and starting to run towards the Scion. "Roxanne! Get back here!" She heard Shepard shout at her, but she ignored him, dodging Collectors, watching as their heads exploded from the cover fire Garrus and Shepard were providing. She rolled behind cover as the Scion unloaded another blast from the canon that was it's arm, it's deformed body shuffling and lurching. Roxanne took the moment to draw her sword and put away her pistol, pressing a button on the weapon's handle and hearing the satisfying _zip _of electricity. She jumped over the console she was hiding behind and ran towards the Scion, her sword over her head, and dodged to it's left side, jumping onto one of the consoles, agile and fast, before leaping onto the Scion's bulbous back.

She stabbed it, the blade penetrating deep into it's body, the horrendous creature letting out an inhuman shriek as it convulsed, miniature lightening bouncing over it's flesh. A spray of blue and black muck that Roxanne was pretty sure was supposed to be blood splashed against the visor of her helmet, coating her arms and front. "Die mother fucker!" She screamed, stabbing it again and again, it's arms flailing about, trying to grab her, but it's own body kept it from doing so. Finally it stumbled forward and fell, and then stopped moving. Roxanne got to her feet, panting, and wiped the muck off her visor just in time to see a Collector rushing her. "Merde!" She shouted, and brought her sword up, stabbing it through the neck and pushing it away. "Lachance! Get back here!" Shepard was shouting at her, shooting at Collectors that were now gunning for her. Roxanne ducked into cover and put away her sword, drawing her pistol. She shot her way back to Garrus and Shepard, panting, exhilarated. Shepard grabbed her by her arm and pulled her close, their helmets hitting one another. "Don't you _ever_ run off like that again without my permission!" He snarled at her before he pushed her away and joined Garrus in shooting down more of the creatures that just seemed to keep coming. Roxanne glared at Shepard's back, but knew that killing these things was more important than arguing right now, so she hunkered down and helped out, though she thought it was a lot easier to do with that Scion dead.

"_Assuming control of this form,"_ came a loud, raspy voice that seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at the same time. "What the hell?" Roxanne muttered, and all three of them peeked over the consoles to see one of the Collectors, it's body contorted and glowing, raising into the air. It dropped back down, and started advancing towards them, firing shot after shot, no longing ducking and dodging like the others. "What is _that_?" Roxanne asked incredulously. "That would be Harbinger," Garrus explained. "_If I must tear you apart Shepard, I will,"_ Came the voice again. "Uh, president of the Shepard fan club I take it?" Roxanne asked sarcastically. "Pretty much," Garrus laughed. "Focus you two!" Garrus and Roxanne got back to work, and every time they killed the Collector possessed by this 'Harbinger', it simply took over another one. "Jeez! This guy doesn't fight fair!" Roxanne growled, popping another heat sync.

"84% complete," EDI informed them again. "EDI! Get us out of here!" Shepard shouted as they advanced onto another platform. They'd been fighting forever, they didn't have an endless supply of ammo and heat syncs. "I am simultaneously fighting Collector fire walls in over 8000 nodes. I am tasked to capacity," She replied in a tone as close to annoyed as Roxanne had ever heard her get. The platforms that came the harder it was to fight, having to watch all side to make sure they didn't get surrounded.

Finally they seemed to reach the end of the platforms where a group of consoles was waiting, and no more Collectors were coming. "Shepard, you must manually reestablish my link to the command console," EDI instructed. Shepard advanced on the consoles, Roxanne and Garrus following, turning in circles as they walked, weapons up and ready. EDI's holographic image popped up out of the console, and Roxanne didn't think she'd ever be so happy to see that stupid AI. "I have regained control of the platform Shepard," She told them. "Knew you wouldn't let us down EDI," Shepard said, sounding relieved. "I always operate at maximum capacity," Oh, so she could be smug, but not concerned. "Oh no..." Roxanne muttered, grabbing the console, "Are we going for another ride?" "'Fraid so," Garrus laughed. The platform began to rise and Roxanne gritted her teeth, staring at the console instead of at the other platforms, which were getting smaller and smaller.

"Did you get what we needed?" Shepard asked EDI. "Yes, I found data that will help us successfully navigate the Omega 4 Relay," She confirmed. '_Well,'_ Roxanne thought, trying to ignore the pit in her stomach, _'At least this wasn't all a waste. Just gotta get out of here alive.'_ "There's something else," EDI told them, her tone sounded... hesitant, "I have found the distress signal sent out by the Turian patrol. The Collecter ship was the point of origin." Roxanne snorted, "I knew this was a trap." She muttered. Garrus nodded in agreement. "I'm not surprised they used the signal as bait," Shepard agreed. "It is... unusual," EDI added. Shepard and Garrus shared a look, "What do you mean?" "Turian emergency channels have a secondary encryption, it is corrupted in this signal," EDI ansered, "It is not possible the Illusive Man would have believed that the distress signal was genuine."

"Cet fils-putain..." Roxanne muttered, she would have spit but she was wearing her helmet. Shepard glanced at her, and didn't seem as convinced of the Illusive Man's guilt quite yet, "How are you so sure?" He asked EDI. "I found the anomaly using Cerberus detection protocols," She almost sounded insulted at Shepard's doubt, "He _wrote_ them." "He knew it was a trap?" Came Joker's voice, "Why would he send us into a trap?" "Because he's a little cuillon," Roxanne growled. "What's a cool-yawn?" Garrus asked. Roxanne chuckled and went to reply, but was interrupted. "We don't have time to throw blame around," He said, looking pointedly at Roxanne, "We'll question him when we're on the Normandy." Roxanne held back a scoff. "This is a bad time to be an optimist, Shepard," Garrus said, putting Roxanne's own feelings into words, though far more eloquently than she would have.

"Uh Commander," Joker interrupted, "We've got another problem." Uh oh, Roxanne frowned and crossed her arms. "The Collecter ship is powering back up." "Fuck," Roxanne glanced around them, as if expecting more of those things to come pouring out at them. "You need to get out of there fast, before their weapons come back online," The pilot told them, "I'm not losing another Normandy!" They could hear a dull rumble somewhere deep in the ship, Roxanne assumed that was the engine powering back up. "I do not have full control over their systems but I will do what I can to help," EDI added, "Sending coordinates for shuttle pick up." "Come on, let's move!" Shepard commanded, all but running off down the hall. "Amen," Roxanne muttered before taking off after Shepard and Garrus.

They ran through more hallways than Roxanne cared to count, EDI guiding them, opening door ways and warning them of incoming Collectors. There were even more of them than before, and husks. They would be just around the corner, waiting for them, too close for proper fire power. Roxanne ended up using her fists and her sword more than she could ever really remember. She sent the blade through the head of one last husk with a satisfying crackle of electricity, smirking. "Agh," She said as she withdrew it, seeing that it was covered in that muck, "It's going to take forever to get this crap off my armor and weapons." Garrus walked past her, rifle ready, and she followed, the dodged to the side as something shot at her, bringing her shields down. But the Turian had her covered, and killed it with one shot to the head, "Scoped and dropped!" He laughed triumphantly. "Yeah yeah," Roxanne smirked, shoving his shoulder, "You big space turkey."

"Move it!" Shepard shouted and they hurried down the hall, continuing this seemingly never ending fire fight. It was when they reached a rather large room that Roxanne saw the most horrifying abomination yet. It looked like a giant, evil jelly fish composed of some thirty human bodies, and was glowing softly, advancing towards them with slow deliberation. "What in the great blue fuck is that?" Roxanne asked, staring at it. She ducked quickly as it started shooting blue lasers from it's eyes, _blue lasers from it's eyes. _She couldn't believe this was happening. They just kept shooting it and shooting it until it finally went down and they were able to rush across the room to the door that EDI had opened for them.

But just as they were reaching it, it closed. "EDI, we got a problem here," Shepard said, stopping for a moment, Roxanne and Garrus flanking him, keeping an eye out. "A temporary set back on Firewall 3127, rerouting commands through Firewall 7164," she assured them. Or well, Roxanne thought she was trying to be reassuring. They continued down the hall to a different door, this one stayed open. "Hey look," Garrus pointed, "I think that's where we came in." "We must be getting close to the end," Shepard said, but he didn't sound relieved. No wonder, Roxanne didn't doubt that something else would happen before then.

They went through another door, and found more Collectors waiting for them. "_Assuming control,_" rasped through the air. "Great," Roxanne growled, "Your fan boy is back." Shepard ignored her as they just kept shooting and running from cover to cover, killing Harbinger over and over. "_I am the harbinger of your ascendance."_ "Jeez, he really does sound like a crazy fan," Roxanne muttered, low enough that Shepard wouldn't hear, but Garrus huffed a laugh so he must have heard it instead.

They kept fighting through the scions, the husks, the Collectors, Roxanne was panting and cursing herself for not working out more over the last three years. "Uh, Commander, I hate to rush you," Joker said suddenly, "But those weapons are about to be online." All three of them started jogging faster. "Might want to double-time it before you know, they blast the Normandy in half." "Oh ye of little faith," Roxanne panted. They hurried around a corner and right into a pack of husks. Roxanne hadn't had time to pull out her sword so she just beat the things with her fists and her pistol, growling and snarling like an animal as she all but ripped them a part and beat them to a pulp. She stopped, thinking most of them were dead, until she felt one collide with her back, a rasping scream filling her ears. "Shit!" She cursed, trying to shake it off or hit it, but unable to thanks to it being behind her. She backed up fast, slamming it into a wall, but it still didn't come off. Finally she felt it's grip disappear and turned to see Shepard pounding it's head in with the butt of his rifle.

It stopped moving and Shepard looked at her, "Thanks," Roxanne offered and he nodded before walking past her. They all but ran through the hallways, only stopping to shoot enemies when they were an immediate threat, running past if they weren't. Finally they saw the shuttle waiting at the end of a long tunnel, and started sprinting like their lives depended on it, because it did. "We're out of time Commander!" Joker shouted at them, "We have to go! Hurry!" They got closer to the shuttle and Shepard stopped, motioning Roxanne and Garrus onward, "You heard the man!" He shouted, "Everyone onto the shuttle! Move!" One by one they jumped on board, with Shepard taking up the rear, and the shuttle took off so hard they were knocked around, grabbing onto anything at hand to keep from falling over. The shuttle landed in the cargo bay with a jolt and they piled off. "Strap in everyone!" Joker's voice came over the loud speakers, "I'm going to make them work for it this time!"

Shepard took off for the elevator, Roxanne and Garrus hurried up the stairs to engineering, which had the closest seats, and strapped themselves in per Joker's advice. They felt the ship accelerate, the engines roaring like some beast that had just been let out of it's cage. The Normandy jerked and shook as Joker evaded and dodged the attacks of the Collector ship then she felt her body being pulled and stretched as the mass effect core was activated. And then, everything was calm.


	5. Chapter 5

"Well that was _fun_," Roxanne said sarcastically as she unstrapped herself from the chair and stood, Garrus following suit. "That's pretty much the norm for a mission with Shepard," the Turian told her with a shrug. Roxanne scoffed and stretched her neck, still feeling irritated and frustrated from just how much the entire ordeal had gone to shit. She couldn't believe that _this_ guy was the famous Commander Shepard, Savior of the Citadel, first human Specter, yadda yadda yadda. She did a better job leading missions!

Garrus frowned at her, "You got something to say?" He asked her, his tone deep and growling.

"Yeah, actually I do!" She snapped at him, "But it's none of your fucking business you space turkey!" The comradery that had started to form between them on the Collector ship was apparently gone. She blamed stress for it happening in the first place. "You're not the XO on this ship, so the only people who I have to take lip from are Shepard and that Cerberus bitch Miranda, not you."

"Miranda might be the XO on paper, but everyone on this ship knows that when Shepard isn't around, I'm in charge," The Turian came right back at her, the two of them both leaning forward, glaring at one another menacingly. "I've followed him to hell and back, I'll do it again, but I wouldn't follow _you _ down the street!" Garrus snarled at her, "You're selfish, cold, and you act like a big fucking baby when things start going hairy!"

"I do _not!_ I don't like going into a situation blind! Shepard should have been more cautious! He shouldn't just take the Illusive Man's word for anything!" Roxanne snapped at him, "He's too fucking trusting! You and I both knew going in there that something wasn't right, he did too!" She flung her hands around as she shouted.

"What did you expect him to do then Roxanne? Just not go? We couldn't afford to pass up that kind of opportunity!" Garrus asked her, his blue eyes burning, angry and outraged.

"You want to know what _I _ would have done?" Roxanne asked, Garrus opened his mouth, no doubt to tell her that he didn't want to know, but she told him anyway, "Shepard is the commanding officer right? All the people on this ship are here because of him right? I think we both know that if he dies again, then once again, things will just fall apart. He shouldn't have set foot on that ship without knowing it wasn't some kind of a trap. I would have sent a team without me, people who are far more expendable, to get the information that was needed." She told him, still talking with her hands, a habit of hers when she was angry.

"Well, that's the difference between you and Shepard isn't it? That's what makes him a good leader, he doesn't view anyone on his crew as expendable, everyone is important, everyone matters!" Garrus snapped at her.

"A good leader values his own skills and recognizes his importance! He does not put himself in a situation where he will be killed, there by rendering his team useless! That doesn't do anyone any good!" Roxanne shouted at him. "And what the hell would you know about being a good leader? You got your entire team on Omega _killed_." She hissed, and then found herself stumbling back as Garrus hit her, hard. She felt her back hit the hull wall and Garrus rushed her, pinning her there, raising his fist to hit her again. Roxanne reacted on impulse, jabbing him hard in the waist, where his armor was leather instead of plating, putting all of her strength into.

Garrus flinched and she shoved him back as hard as she could, bringing her right leg forward and hooking it behind his, tripping him up. He crashed to the grated floor, but was quickly scrambling to his feet, ready to attack again when a biotic blast knocked him back. "Chill out Garrus!" Came Jack's voice. They were not too far from her hidey hole and she'd obviously heard them arguing and come to see what was going on.

"Stay out of this Jack!" Garrus snarled, fixing his gaze back onto Roxanne, baring his teeth. Roxanne was still in a fighter's stance, ready for him. The Turian moved to charge.

"Garrus!" He stopped instantly, tripping over himself a bit to do so and looking up to see Shepard running towards them from the elevator, looking pissed off. "What the _hell_ is going on here?!" He demanded. Roxanne and Garrus glared at each other, but neither said a word. Shepard let out a tired sigh and ran a hand over his face, "Garrus, go cool off, Roxanne, debriefing room, _now._" The woman and the Turian glared at one another for another moment before Roxanne stalked off to the elevator, leaving Garrus and Shepard.

…...

Garrus let out a deep breath through his nose, trying to calm himself, though his hands were still curled into fists. "I don't want to talk about it," He snarled. Shepard glared at him and then looked at Jack, obviously thinking she'd tell him something. The tattooed young woman put her hands up.

"Sorry Shep, I'm staying out of this," She said, and walked off back towards engineering to go back to whatever it was she was always doing.

"Garrus," Shepard said, looking back to his friend, "What happened? She must have really said something to get under your skin like that." Garrus could have a temper, but not like this. He'd never seen him attack a fellow crew member, no matter how he disliked them.

Garrus let out a growled and rubbed his forehead, squeezing his eyes shut. "Nothing she just... she's really good at doing just that, getting under your skin," He sighed, "Honestly," He said, looking at Shepard and frowning, "She reminds me a freaking Turian with her attitude about how to lead men. I think I even had a captain once who was just as good at getting in people's heads and really screwing them up." He was trying really hard to act like everything was fine. "I guess I was still just wound up from the mission, it won't happen again."

Shepard frowned, not happy that Garrus was refusing to tell him what had happened, but he wasn't going to push it. "See that it doesn't." And started for the elevator.

"Shepard," Garrus said, and the Commander looked at him over his shoulder, "If you ever get in a fight with her, be careful. She fights mean."

Shepard got on the elevator and Garrus was left by himself, fuming. He was so _angry_. Angry with Roxanne, angry with himself for losing his temper, and angry all over again for what a failure he'd been on Omega. He'd let his men down. Roxanne was right, what did he know about being a good leader?

…...

Roxanne stood in the ready room, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in her jaw where Garrus had hit her. It would probably bruise if she left it alone, she'd have to go see Dr. Chakwas and see if she had anything for it. She wasn't angry, surprisingly. The fight had let her vent a lot of that out, and she didn't take it personally. She'd purposefully pushed Garrus, she'd said what she had knowing it would probably make him react. She'd probably have hit her too if he'd have been him. She sighed, leaning back against the table arms crossed, waiting for Shepard to come and yell at her.

Sure enough, the doors opened and Shepard walked in, and he looked pretty steamed. "You mind telling me what happened down there?" He asked and Roxanne shrugged.

"Just a disagreement, nothing more," She assured him calmly.

Shepard let out a frustrated noise and ran a hand over his face. "I told you, when you came on this ship, I told you two things. Follow orders," He held up one finger, "And don't pull any shit." He held up two fingers. "That's two strikes in one day," Shepard told her. "You ran off on your own and nearly got yourself killed, and now you're picking fights with crew members!" He shook his head, a hand rubbing his fore head, the other on his hip. He muttered something under his breath, not looking at her, and then lifted his head, glaring. "Be happy that I'm a forgiving man, I'm giving you _one_ more chance. Pull anything like the shit you pulled today and I'll eject your ass."

Roxanne inclined her head, a calm look on her face, "Of course, Commander." She told him, and straightened. "Is that all?"

"Yes."

"Well then, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to med bay, that Turian hits pretty hard," She smirked.

The next day, everyone seemed to be talking about Garrus and Roxanne's scuffle, Roxanne just shrugged off the questions, giving cryptic answers about the reason they'd been fighting, and how it went. Thankfully, Jack took the hint and just kept her mouth shut, though Roxanne knew she was dying to tell everyone _something_. Despite how she pretended like she just wanted to be left alone and her attempts to scare people off, Roxanne also knew that she craved attention on a deeper level. Eventually, when things settled down Roxanne made her way to the battery, walking in to see Garrus tapping away at the console, it seemed to be how he spent most of his time.

"Hey space turkey," Roxanne smirked, leaning her hip into the nearby railing, but keeping a respectable distance between her and the Turian.

Garrus lifted his head and looked at her over her shoulder and looked back at the console, "What do you want?" He asked her flatly.

"Aw come on, you're not mad at me are you?" She asked, walking over and leaning against the console, battle her blue blue eyes at him with a demure smile. "What's a scrap between friends?"

"We're not friends," Garrus told her, glancing at her and then looking back at the console.

Roxanne gasped, putting her hand on her chest and feigning insult, "But, Garrus, _I'm_ your friend." She insisted.

Garrus let out a frustrated noise through his noise and straightened, crossing his arms and glaring at her, "No you're not, you don't know how to be some one's friend. You're selfish and cold." He growled at her. "What in the hell is wrong with you? Why are you so fucked up?" He asked her, waving his hands about in frustration.

Roxanne laughed and shook her head, "You don't want to know, Garrus," She told him, smiling. "Look, I'm sorry about what I said okay? Forgive me?" She asked.

Garrus glared at her for a long, silent moment, and then let out a huff of a sigh, "Fine, but only because I'm just that awesome." He told her before going back to tapping away at his console. He did this for a moment before he realized Roxanne was still standing there, watching him, her arms crossed. "What is it?"

"So what happened?" She asked.

Garrus blinked, "What?"

"On Omega, what happened to your team?" She asked him.

Garrus glared at her, "That's none of your business." He snarled.

"Look, I can tell it bothers you, you wouldn't have slugged me in the face if it didn't," She told him, rolling her eyes.

"Ah..." Garrus groaned, rubbing the back of his neck, "Yeah, sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it, you hit like a Salarian anyway," She grinned.

Garrus scoffed, "I do _not_," He growled, trying to be angry, but he was fighting off a grin. When Roxanne laughed he couldn't hold it back and just shook his head, chuckling softly and rubbing his forehead. "You're a strange human, Roxanne." He told her.

"Yeah, I know," She shrugged. "Now, are you gonna tell me or do I have to beat it out of you?" She asked, grinning at him.

Garrus let out a sigh. The only person he'd talked to about this was Shepard, he barely knew Roxanne, he knew he should just tell her to fuck off, especially after what she'd said the day before, but he leaned against the railing and crossed his arms. "Well, I told you about how I went to Omega right, and got a team together?" She nodded. "There were twelve of us," He continued, "Former military, ex cops, the usual. Had a Salarian explosives expert, pretty sure he'd spent time in the STG." He shrugged, then laughed, "My tech expect was a Batarian, believe it or not. Not the friendliest guy, but he could hack into worked well together. I had a good team. There was no red tape to slow me down, and there were plenty of criminals that no one seemed to be able to touch. We hit them where it hurt, stole shipments, disrupted activities and movement, killed anyone who had gone too far, hurt too many people." He told her, his voice full of fire. "I didn't even have to recruit, they just came to me. Mercs who wanted to atone, security agents tired of playing by the rules, _ I _gave them hope."

Roxanne watched him, listening, impressed by his passion, his conviction. She could see why those men had followed him, he believed so strongly in what he had been doing.

Then he hung his head and looked away, letting out a long, forlorn sigh, "And now they're dead..."

"What happened?" Roxanne asked, her face impassive.

"One of our own betrayed me... It was my own fault, he lured me away, pretended he was in trouble. When I got there, he was gone, there was no one there. I went back... and all of my men were dead. And the one who betrayed me, fled." Garrus's voice was low, but seething. He was almost growling, his head down, staring intently at the floor. "Everyone except me is dead because of him, and because I was too blind to see it coming."

"That bastard... I trusted him, they _all_ trusted him. And what does he do? Takes a bribe, books transport, lures me out so that merc scum could kill them all, and then clears out his personal accounts and skips town," He snarled, turning and suddenly slamming his fist against the railing. "He sold me out, and ran."

Roxanne watched him quietly for a moment, his back to her, "I'd kill the bastard." She whispered.

Garrus gave a harsh laugh, "Believe me, I plan on it. I've been trying to track him down, but his trail went cold. But when I find him..." his hands tightened on the railing, and she could see his body beginning to shake with rage. "I'll correct my mistake." He straightened and looked at her. "You were right yesterday, that's why I got so angry. I'm not a good leader, my poor judgment got my men killed."

Roxanne scoffed and rolled her eyes, "Will you shut up about that? I was just trying to get under your skin yesterday," She told him, "Besides, whining doesn't suit you." She stood and walked over to him, looking up at his scarred face, arms crossed. "You're better than that shit."

Garrus just looked at her, a strange look in his eyes, before he looked away, shaking his head with a laugh. "You sure you're not part Turian?" He asked, looking back at her.

Roxanne laughed and shrugged, "Who knows, maybe I'm some sort of top secret genetic experiment combining the bad assness of a Turian with the good looks of a human." She tossed her head, flipping her hair, which was down today.

Garrus scoffed, "Good looks? Hardly."

"Oh what? At least I'm not missing half my face," she teased.

"I'll have you know that some women find scars very attractive, mind you they're usually Krogan..." He told her.

Roxanne smiled at him, one her smooth, predatory smiles, "I like scars." Garrus just stared at her, eyes widening a bit as she reached up and ran her fingers over the bandage covering his scars. Then she pulled her hand away, walking out of the battery, "See ya round space turkey." She told him, then called over her shoulder, "I owe you for that punch by the way! Be expecting a request to duel some time."


	6. Chapter 6

Garrus really didn't know what to think Roxanne, one minute she was a complete bitch and he hated her, the next she was personable and he actually enjoyed being around her. She was certainly an enigma. She refused to talk about her pass, and all Joker could tell him was that she was from Earth originally, born in a city called New Orleans. Besides that, no body really knew much about her before she joined the Alliance. All that was known for sure was her birth date (November 20th 2156, which made her the same age as him), where she was born, and that she had no know father, the spot on her birth certificate having been left blank. After that, records were few except for the usual school records and then her enlisted documents.

He didn't know why he was researching her, maybe because she infuriated him so much. She knew enough about him to be able to say things that just got to him, but he knew almost nothing about her, not enough to be able to get back at her. Jabs at her status as a pop star didn't phase her, nor did jabs at her military record. If you believed Roxanne, she didn't give a shit about either one, it was merely a means to an end, which was making sure she had food to eat and a roof over her head. Garrus didn't believe her of course, out of curiosity he'd listened to some of her music. It was supposedly written by her, and most of it was sad and melancholy. Garrus had a sneaking suspicion that Roxanne was not as callous as she appeared. Oh he did not doubt that she had no qualms with killing for her own survival, or because some one got in her way, and he didn't think she was faking the lack of compassion she felt for others, but he didn't think she'd be so flippant about people she cared about. She just also seemed determined not to care about people, or to let them care about her.

That was neither here nor there at the moment though, Garrus was far more preoccupied trying to figure out her physical weaknesses rather than her mental ones. She'd sent him her request for a 'duel' and he'd been happy to oblige.

Roxanne was just as mean a fighter in when sparring as she was when when she was actually trying to hurt you, and what she lacked in raw power she made up for in speed and agility. Garrus could tell he was going to be sore all over tomorrow. She was fond of jabbing his weak points, disabling him long enough to get in a shot, she always seemed to somehow be able to wriggle out of his holds, and he couldn't count how many times she'd knocked him off his feet. He'd gotten in a few good hits too, but she was slowly but surely beating him down.

"Stop it you... stupid... pyjak!" Garrus snarled, so flustered he couldn't even think up a good insult, quickly scrambling to his feet. She fought more like a damn ninja than a soldier. "Stop dancing around and just _fight _me," He growled at her.

"Aw, I'm sorry, am I too fast for you, space turkey?" She grinned, hands up.

"Come here and say that to my face," Garrus growled.

"Okay," And she darted in, ducking under his arm as he swung a punch at her, punching him hard in the waist, but Garrus grabbed her before she had time to dart back out, gripping her arms, and twisted her around, getting her in a lock. Using his superior size and strength he flipped her over his shoulder, dropping her hard on the ground. She landed with an 'oomph' and rolled away as Garrus kicked at her. She jumped to her feet, but Garrus was already rushing at her, colliding with her with a snarl and knocking her to the ground, grabbing her wrists and pinning her down. Garrus panted, and he was at least satisfied to see that she'd broken out a sweat too, her black hair pulling back in a pony tail, leaving both sides of her buzzed head exposed. "Yield!" He growled.

Roxanne smirked, her blue eyes glittering at him, "Make me," She whispered, and then some how her foot was up next to his head, she hooked her anklet around his neck, and pulled, hard, forcing him to roll off of her until he was on his back. She was on top of him in a flash, her knees on his shoulders, applying pressure so that it hurt just to move his arms. Her hands were on the mat on either side of his head, and she looked down at him, panting. "Give up, Garrus," She smirked.

Garrus glared up at her, her black hair a mess, her face red with exertion, and her blue eyes triumphantly, and suddenly he could see why everyone seemed to think she was so beautiful. He shook the thought from his head and growled, trying to bring his arms up to grab her, but she twisted her knees into him and he let out a snarl of pain. "Alright! Alright!" He shouted and she got off of him, reaching down to help him up. "Spirits," He muttered as he stood, rubbing his shoulders, "I'm going to feel that tomorrow." He'd get her back, next time. He hadn't been expecting her to fight so unfair.

Roxanne laughed, "This old Japanese guy lived in my building when I was a kid, he taught me a lot of moves, mostly power points and grappling stuff." She told him, walking over to where she'd left her bottle of water. "He said a girl shouldn't go around the city not being able to defend herself. I think the stuff he taught me was way more useful than any of the crap they tried to cram in my head at school." She laughed again, sitting down and pouring water into her mouth.

Garrus watched her for a moment, a little mesmerized by how some of the water spilled out of the corners of her mouth and ran down her chin, and trickled down her throat, which was bared temptingly with how she had her head back to drink. Garrus shook his head, wondering what in the hell was wrong with him, and went to sit beside her. "I think that's the first time I've heard you talk about your childhood." He told her.

Roxanne stopped drinking and shrugged, "So?"

"So, that's not fair," He told her, "I told you about my horrible failure as a leader. Now it's your turn to give up the goods."

Roxanne looked at him and grinned wickedly, leaning towards him a bit, "I'll give you my goods any time Garrus." She cooed, batting her eye lashes. Garrus felt his pulse quicken and he took a quick breath to calm himself, but only ended up getting a nose full of her scent, which was surprisingly pleasant, usually humans stunk when sweating, and then she pulled away and laughed, starting to stand. "Maybe some other time," She told him. But Garrus grabbed her by one of her tattooed arms and pulled her back onto the bench.

"Ohhh no," He said, "Tell me."

Roxanne frowned at him and jerked her arm out of his grasp. Garrus was surprised by the angry look in her eye, "No. It's none of your fucking business." She snapped at him and stood, walking off quickly.

Garrus watched her leave and sighed heavily, shaking his head. Roxanne was without a doubt one of the strangest women he'd ever met. He never knew what to expect with her. And he was surprised as he realized that despite how she could get under his skin, he liked that about her.

Garrus didn't see Roxanne around for the rest of the afternoon, which was unusual, they usually ran into each other, seeing as the battery was right off the mess hall, where most of the crew spent their time. Including Roxanne. He knew she was avoiding him, and that in itself was surprising. She was one of the most confrontational people he'd ever met, and yet here she was, hiding from him because he'd asked her to share some of her past with him. Garrus decided to take a page from her book though and wasn't going to let her run away from his question. He refusal to tell him only made him more curious and more determined. So he went to her room that evening, pushing the panel on the door to chime for his arrival, but some how it was unlocked or he pushed the wrong thing and it opened on it's own.

Loud music burst from the open door way, throbbing bass and electronic melodies. And there was Roxanne, singing and dancing, half naked, wearing a pair of pants and that strange chest harness that he always saw human women wearing. His blue eyes went wide, and he flinched, expecting her to start screaming at him, but she hadn't noticed, her back to him and the music loud enough to cover the sound of the opening door. Over the music he could hear her singing, her voice high and proud, singing along and bouncing around, her hips shaking and swaying. He just stared at her, somewhere between amused and fascinated. He'd never seen a human woman in so little clothing, he was surprised by how... smooth she looked.

Then she turned around, and stopped, mid hip gyration, her mouth open, stopping mid note. She looked ridiculous, so Garrus laughed. He didn't really mean to, but it came out as a bit of a snort and then he just started laughing.

"Sacré nom de putain!" She shouted in surprise, and then fixed a furious glare on him, "Casse toi, trudouc!" Roxanne ran at him, one hand futilely trying to cover her chest, the other pushed him, hard, back out of the door and then it shut quickly in his face. Garrus just stood there laughing, doubling over and holding his sides, the image of her frozen, mid dance, stuck in his head. It was so ridiculous if only because he knew that with Roxanne's ego, she found it incredibly embarrassing.

The music shut off and he could hear her talking on the other side, but he couldn't understand what she was saying, partially because she was muttering and his hearing was good, but not that good, and partially because she seemed to be cursing in that language she had a tendency to lapse into when angry or surprised. "Roxanne," He laughed. She didn't answer him. "Come on Roxie, put on some clothes and let me in."

"No! Go away you stupid cuillon!" She shouted at him.

"Hey come on, stop calling me things that I don't understand!" He said, still laughing a little. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. "Alright, I'm not laughing anymore, come on, open the door." He said, still grinning a little. There was silence from the other side, "Please?" He added, and that seemed to do the trick since she opened the door.

Roxanne walked away from it quickly and sat on her bed, glaring at him, now wearing a simple black t-shirt. Her face was still a little red and her blue eyes were glaring at him viciously. "What the hell do you want?" She snapped, "And what is wrong with you?! Don't you fucking knock?"

"I did! The door just opened! I don't think you had it set right or something," He told her, walking in and shutting the door behind him. "Come on, I'm sorry." He told her, then burst out laughing, "Okay, no, I'm not. That was hilarious." He said, laughing so hard he doubled over again. Roxanne let out a snarl and opened the door, trying to push him out. "Okay okay, Spirits, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He told her, grabbing her arms so she couldn't push him, holding onto them, trying to calm down, "I won't laugh anymore okay?" He told her, smiling.

Roxanne scoffed and walked away, sitting back down. Garrus closed the door again and leaned against the door frame, smirking at her. "At least you dance better than Shepard," Garrus laughed softly.

"What?" Roxanne asked, looking confused.

"Shepard is a _horrible_ dancer. Seriously, it hurts to watch him," Garrus said, straightening and doing an impression of the Shepard Shuffle, his hands up, moving up and down as he shifted from foot to foot. He stopped when Roxanne finally laughed. Garrus smiled and went back to leaning against the door frame, arms crossed.

"Hey, I'm a great dancer, that was just goofing off," She told him, still laughing a little.

"Yeah sure," He grinned.

"Oh yeah like you can dance!" She scoffed.

"I can, thank you!" Garrus laughed, "Next time we're on shore leave, we're going to hit up a club and I'll wow you with my amazing moves." He said, waggling his brow plates at her.

Roxanne rolled her eyes but smirked, "Alright, deal. So what did you want?" She asked him.

Garrus shrugged his shoulders, "First, what in the world is that language I always hear you spouting out?"

Roxanne shrugged her shoulders back at him, "It's called Cajun, it's kind of like French... but different, it's got some Spanish and English mixed in, and a lot of slang." She explained, "People from my neck of the woods speak it. I can't speak it perfectly, but I understand it pretty well, and I know most of the cuss words." She laughed.

"New Orleans right? That's where you're from?" Garrus asked.

"Been browsing the fan sites huh?" She asked, smirking.

Garrus scoffed, "Hardly, Joker seems to think we should all be well-informed about you, keeps telling me things I really don't care to know." He lied, partially. Joker did tend to start telling him random things about Roxanne, but he had asked about where she was from. "Like, I know that your least favorite color is yellow, and you really hate sour candies." He laughed.

"I do! They make my mouth feel like it's trying to implode..." She muttered.

"So what's a cool-yawn?" He asked, having heard her use it twice now.

"Cuillon?" she laughed softly, "Uh... jerk, asshole, but like, top tier, so like 'little prick of an asshole' or something." She explained.

"Oh..." He said, then frowned, "Hey..."

"Well you were laughing at me!" Roxanne glared.

"And you were dancing around like an idiot," He smiled.

"Whatever, what do you want?" She asked with a sigh, her cheeks having turned a little red. Garrus hadn't realized how easy it was to embarrass her, he'd have to remember that.

"I want you to tell me about yourself," He told her.

Roxanne's eyes narrowed and she let out an irritated scoff, "I already told you no," She growled. "And I meant it, it's none of your business."

"Why don't you want to talk about it?"

"Why do you want to know so bad?" She snapped at him quickly, "Why the hell do you care?"

Garrus opened his mouth, but couldn't really think of an answer, "I... don't know really. I just..."

Roxanne sighed and looked away from him, "Look, I didn't have a very good childhood okay? it's not something I really enjoy revisiting. So please, just leave me alone about it." Her voice was quiet, almost sad, two things that were rather uncharacteristic for her. "I don't know what you want me to tell you, I never knew my father, my mom was a druggie and an alcoholic and I had to pretty much fend for myself. I joined a gang when I was ten to make that easier and the rest... is complicated." She told him, then lifted her head to look at him, "There, happy? You know some stuff about me." Roxanne snorted and flopped back on her bed, staring up at the ceiling. "Can you just go now?"

Garrus sighed, surprised that he felt bad for pressing her, "Sorry, I didn't mean to make you upset." He told her quietly.

"I'm fine," She told him, not sitting up or looking at him, "You can go now."

Garrus sighed again and opened the door, opening his mouth to say... something to her, but he didn't know what so he walked out of her room, closing the door behind him and going back to the battery. He'd known since he'd heard her sing that night at the concert that Roxanne had experienced her own fair share of pain. She hid it well, either by being exuberant or abrasive, but it was always there, effecting every decision, every thought. Garrus never thought he'd feel bad for Roxanne Lachance, but he did.


	7. Chapter 7

Hur hur hur :3 and so the smut begins

…...

Roxanne laid there on her bed, staring up at the ceiling, thinking. She rarely thought, to be honest. She tried not to. Thinking always seemed to just bring her down. She sighed and ran a hand over her face, trying not to think about her childhood, trying not to think about the Reds, the debt she owed them, the debt that they would hold over her head for the rest of her life. Nothing that belonged to her was really hers, it was theirs. Anything they wanted from her, they could just take, and there was nothing she could do. Anything they wanted _of_ her, she had to do, and there was still nothing she could do about it. No one could know. She would be ruined. And she'd come to far to just give in now.

She thought about her military career, her career as an entertainer, and how all her accomplishments were really meaningless. They didn't matter, because they brought Roxanne no closer to freedom. If anything, her fame only made the Tenth Street Reds tighten their grip on her all the more. They would never let her go as long as she was useful to them. But as miserable as it made her, it was better than the alternative, it was better than what would happen if they decided she was no longer worth the trouble of hiding her little secret.

No one could know. So she kept everyone at arm's length. Well, there were multiple reasons for that, but the threat of some one finding out was definitely up there. The other reasons being that attachment made you weak, and that people would always hurt you, whether they meant to or not.

Like Garrus. She could tell he was trying to get close to her, but she wouldn't let him. She'd fended off far more charming men than him. Even if she did enjoy his company more than she had with any of those men. He didn't treat her like she was Atroxa, she was just Roxanne to him. She couldn't be friends with him though, not really. It was too dangerous. Not because of her usual reasons of keeping people away either. She had a job to do. And she couldn't do it if she got attached to him. Because in the end her survival was all that mattered, and if she couldn't keep her head on straight, then she wouldn't be able to do what she was supposed to do.

Roxanne had laid there for a couple hours, thinking herself into a downward spiral, until she finally got up, took some pills, and went to bed. She had stopped the hard core drug use a little over a year ago, but some times she just needed a little help to get to sleep. She didn't think there was anything wrong with that, was there? It allowed her to wake up the next morning not feeling like complete shit anyway. She got up and acted completely normal, managing to shake off the vestiges of her memories by about 10:00 SET. By then she'd done what she does best and removed herself from her emotions.

The one thing she did decide was that she had to do something about Garrus. She shouldn't have told him anything at all the night before, and it was clear he wasn't going to just leave well enough alone. Roxanne knew she needed to keep him at a safe distance, and in her book, that could only be done one of two ways, she could either shut him out completely, or she could employ a tactic she'd found worked on most men, distraction. Shutting him out didn't seem like a good option, it would arouse suspicion to suddenly want nothing to do with him, so that left distraction and really, there was no one else on the ship that Roxanne would rather... distract.

She found him, as usual, in the battery. "Hey space turkey," She greeted him, "care for a rematch?"

Garrus looked at her over his shoulder, blinking his blue eyes in an almost confused sort of way. "A rematch? Already?"

"Well, if you can't handle it, that's fine," She said with a shrug, turning and starting to walk out of the battery, "We'll just do it some other time when you think-"

"Ohhh no, I'm ready," Garrus abandoned the console and followed her quickly, "And this time, I'm going to win. I know all your dirty little tricks now."

"Is that so?" She asked him with a sly smile. He had no idea.

They met down in the cargo bay, Roxanne wearing her work out clothes, a pair of shorts, a tank top, and bare feet (her fighting style depended on the ability to grip with her toes and while she did own a pair of jaki-tabi, those were reserved for serious fights). When they had sparred yesterday, she'd been wearing far more clothing. Garrus blinked at her as he showed up, wearing the same thing that he'd worn the day before, which resembled casual Turian clothes, but far more simple. "Decide that clothing is out of fashion?" He asked, setting his blue visor aside.

"You already some me almost naked, surely this doesn't bother you," She smirked, starting do some stretches, reaching down and touching her toes, then leaning over to her left as far as she could, then her right. She stretched and flexed her arms and legs, and then placed her right foot up on a crate, grabbing the toes and stretching the muscles in her leg and her torso before doing the same thing with her left leg. She was naturally fair, almost pale, her skin smooth, and almost flawless, though it was dotted with an occasional, small scar. She had tattoos on her back, covering it almost as much as her arms were decorated, and a prominent scar that interrupted one of the tattoos on her back. It was about two inches long and was only an inch or so above her pant line, an inch to the left of her spine.

It took Garrus a moment to answer her, distracted slightly by watching the weird ways her body was able to stretch and bend, he blinked back into focus though as he realized she'd stopped to give him a questioning look. "Oh, no, doesn't bother me at all."

"Good! Because I work best when I'm not hindered by a bunch of clothing," She told him, meaning for that to sound as dirty as it did.

Garrus stared at her a little bit, then swallowed, going about doing his own version of Turian stretches, which weren't nearly as diverse as it was with humans, restricted as they are by their plates.

"Alright space turkey, ready to get your ass handed to you... _again_?" She asked with a grin.

Garrus laughed and walked out into the part of the cargo bay that had been cleared out and had mats placed down as the make shift exercise yard of the ship. "Bring it on," He taunted, motioning for her with his talons.

She walked out onto the mat, smiling at him sweetly, and they took up their positions, posture aggressive, feet spaced wide apart. Before he could start wondering if he should attack before her or let her attack first, Roxanne made the decision for him and rushed him, making like she was going to tackle him, but dodging to the side quickly, only just narrowly avoiding a blow that would have hurt like hell. She moved behind him quickly and jabbed him had in the back in one of the weak points of his plates. Garrus let out a shout of pain and seized up. She took the opportunity to knock his legs out from under him, and danced away. "I thought you said you were ready?" She taunted as he got to his feet. "I thought you said you knew all my little tricks?"

Garrus shook his head and didn't say anything, and she could see him gritting his teeth as he started walking off the mat. Roxanne blinked and dropped her fighter's posture. Well, that wasn't what she'd planned at all. "Hey, I'm sorry, are you okay?" She asked, walking after him. As soon as she got close though his hand snapped out and grabbed her by the arm, turning with it over his shoulder, using it as leverage to flip her, slamming her onto her back, hard. Roxanne let out a grunt, not able to do much else since that effectively knocked the wind out of her. Garrus rolled and pinned her down, grinning like mad.

"I was ready," He growled at her, "You weren't."

"Well," Roxanne croaked, taking deep breaths to calm her burning lungs, "I'll admit I'm impressed, I think you're one of the first people to out smart me like that." She admitted, not struggling against the grip he had on her wrists. She gasped a few breaths methodically, finally getting her breath back.

Garrus beamed at her and then stood, reaching down and helping her up. Roxanne purposefully held onto his hand a bit longer than was necessary, but released it and walked over to where she'd set her water, taking a long drink, her back to the Turian. "So," she said, finally rid of that feeling like someone was sitting on her chest, "Feel like another round?"

"Already? You're just a glutton for punishment aren't you?" Garrus laughed.

"Only if it's you punishing me," Roxanne grinned at him over her shoulder, and was satisfied by the small falter in his grin. "Well?" She asked, walking back onto the mat.

"Alright, alright," The Turian shrugged, then smirked at her, his sharp teeth flashing, "I'll try to go easy on you this time." He walked over to where he had his own drink, pouring some into his mouth, before he pulled off his shirt and tossed it aside.

Roxanne smirked at him, not hiding the path of her eyes as she appraised him. She'd always found the way Turians were put together interesting. Broad shoulders tapering down to a narrow waist, long limbs, and those strangely shaped hips. And of course, their plates were as far from human as you could get. Maybe that was why she found them so attractive, seeing as she rather disliked most people, and was honestly sick of the human race.

"My eyes are up here, Roxanne," Garrus told her with a laugh and Roxanne gave him a coy smile.

"Why, of course they are," She told him as he walked back out onto the mat.

They went at each other at the same time, and Roxanne was almost surprised by how aggressive Garrus was being. Though she supposed she shouldn't be, he could claim to be a bad Turian all he liked but he was a Turian none the less. They were far more bestial than humans. She supposed she was only surprised because during their spar the day before, he'd been far more restrained, but she wondered if that was maybe because at first he'd been afraid of hurting her. Now though he obviously wasn't underestimating her anymore. They went at each other like enemies, both craving victory like it was their prey.

Roxanne only just dodged a swipe of his talons, jumping back quickly and bringing her leg up, kicking it out hard into his abdomen. His plates hurt her foot, but not so much that it effected her movement, and he staggered back, arms windmilling to catch his balance. Roxanne didn't allow him the opportunity though, and tackled him, the two of them landing on the mat. Garrus grunted, his taloned hands grabbing Roxanne and holding her up slightly so she didn't land fully on his plates, sacrificing the win so that she wouldn't get hurt, or crack one of his plates. They both laid there, panting for a moment. "Alright, I yield," Garrus told her, "I don't need to win both times to know how awesome I am." He told her, letting her go so that her weight was on him now.

Roxanne laughed, sitting up, straddling him, "Is that so?" She asked him, her hands on her hips, grinning down at him. "You're so humble," She rolled her blue eyes and pushed a few strands of black hair that had come loose from her pony tail out of her face. She leaned down over him, her hands planted on either side of his head, her face hovering over his, "But I've got news for you." Garrus looked a little surprised, and just stared up at her. She saw the muscles in his throat flex and then relax as he swallowed. Roxanne just smiled down at him, a slow, vicious smile, quirking a brow and lowered her head until it was alongside his, her mouth close to his ear, "I'm just as amazing as you, possibly even more so." She grinned.

Garrus gave an uneasy laugh, and she heard more than saw his breathing begin to quicken. Glancing down, she saw that his talons were digging into the mat, and she knew she had him. Her head dropped the last few inches, and she felt his body tense under hers as her lips pressed against the skin of his neck. Turian skin had such an odd texture, like soft, worn leather, supple but tough. She heard the fabric of the mat rip under his talons and smirked, her lips moving against his textured skin, but when her tongue ran over his flesh, he let out a soft gasp and grabbing her by the shoulders, pushing her up.

His blue eyes were wide as he stared up at her and he was panting softly, there were now several holes in the mat, stuffing sticking out of them. He just stared at her, but he didn't say anything, and Roxanne smirked at him, her thighs squeezing his waist gently, as that was where she was straddling him. This, to her satisfaction, drove a soft, growling groan from between his clenched teeth, she could feel his body rumble between her legs, his head leaning back slightly. She pushed his hands off her shoulders and they fell to her thighs instead as she leaned back down, her lips caressing the skin of his throat, her thighs squeezing his waist. He responded with a louder growl and his talons digging into the flesh of her thighs gently, the skin under her lips vibrating with the sound.

Roxanne knew he was still restraining himself, and knew she had to up the ante to really push him over the edge. He wanted her, she knew he did, he might not have ever found a human attractive before, but she also knew that it wasn't her body that attracted him, it was her challenge. Turians always responded to a challenge, it was in their nature.

"Garrus," She whispered, she moved her hands onto his shoulders, putting most of her weight onto her knees, "take me." And she pressed her mouth firmly to his throat, biting him in way that would be hard to most humans, but not for a Turian. Garrus let out a growl and grabbed her by her waist before he rolled them so that he was now on top of her, between her legs, pressing against her, his mouth was at her neck, breath hot, his long, blue tongue sliding out to run her skin and his teeth nipped at her. It was Roxanne's turn to react, letting out a soft gasp and her body pressing against his, her head leaning back, exposing her throat to him, her hands reaching down to grip his waist, running her hands along his skin, finger tips dipping below the waist of his pants a few times.

She wrapped her legs around him, pulling him against her, grinding against him. One of his hands reached down and grabbed the bottom of her tank top and started tugging it up, until she took the hint and grabbed it herself, pulling it up and over her head, tossing it aside. But it was about then that Garrus's mouth stopped at her neck and he pulled away, blinking eyes hazed with lust and looking around. "Ah... not here," He told her, clearing his throat. Roxanne held back a frown, she was afraid that he'd back out if they took the time to go up to her room, or even the battery. She glanced around, and then spotted a solution to their problem over Garrus's shoulder.

"The shuttle," She told him and he looked behind himself and let out a laugh.

"You sure?"

She squeezed with her legs and ran a hand up around his neck, rubbing. Garrus shut his eyes and arched his neck slightly, a soft purring growl making the skin under her fingers vibrate. "I don't want to wait, I want you now." Roxanne told him and he stood, helping her up and not letting her go as he half dragged her to the shuttle, her smaller hand in his, opening the door and letting her in first before he glanced around and followed her in, the door lowering behind them.


End file.
